Single-acting diesel engine.



G. C. DAVISON & J. W. ANDERSON. SINGLE ACTING DIESEL ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I5. I916 1,258,658. Patented Mar. 12, 1918 5 SHEETS---SHEET I.

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APPLICATION LED MAR-15,1916. 1,Q58,'658. Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

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G. C. DAWSON & J. W. ANDERSON. SINGLE ACTING DIESEL ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR: 1.5, IQIG- l,%58,658o Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

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SINGLE ACTING DIESEL ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. I5, I9I6 Patented Mar. 12, 1918 5 SHEETSSHEET 4- G. C. DAWSON & J. WJnANDERSON. SINGLE ACTING DIESEL ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-15.1916. 1,258,658.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

INVENTOH Q) S. \x. M mm? Arm/MUS Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

of the engine carrying UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

GREGORY C. DAVISON AND JOHN W. ANDERSON, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT,

ASSIGNORS T0 ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY, OF

OF NEW JERSEY.

NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION SINGLE-ACTING DIESEL ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

Application filed March 15, 1916. Serial No. 84,263.

To (115 whom it may concern Be it known that we, GREGORY C. DAVISON and JOHN W. ANDERSON, citizens of the United States, and residents of New London, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Single-Acting Diesel Engines; and We do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines of the type in which heavy oils are used as fuel and aims to provide in such an engine a very elficient construction requiring a minimum of space, possessing maximum interchangeability of parts and permitting ready removal and replacement of certain of the parts without requiring readjustment of the valve mechanism.

The invention is directed particularly to the provision of an internal combustion engine of the heavy oil type adapted for use on submarine boats where the restrictions as to the space occupied by the engine are unusually severe. In such a boat, it is common practice to use two internal combustion engines arranged side by side parallel to the axis of the boat and the space limitations are such that it is necessary to confine the parts of the engine within as little space as possible both as to length and width.

One of the features of the invention involves the provision of cylinders which are detachably mounted upon the engine casing and a valve mechanism for each cylinder, all of which, with the exception of the cams for operating the valves, are mounted upon the cylinder. With this construction, the detachment and removal of any cylinder carries with it the valve mechanism appropriate to that cylinder and on replacement of the cylinder, the valve mechanism will be restored to its operative condition without requiring readjustment of the mechanism, To this end, the cam shafts the several cams for actuating the valves are mounted upon the casing of the engine, preferably one shaft on each side of the line of cylinders, and the actuating devices for the several valves are mounted upon the cylinders and extend downwardly to positions for coaction with the cams on the cam shafts.

Another feature of the invention involves the provision of valves mounted at the upper end of each cylinder, the inlet and exhaust valves being located upon opposite sides of the cylinder in axial alinement and the spray-valve being mounted'at the upper end of the cylinder. This arrangement of the valves facilitates the provision of operating devices for the valves which are exceedingly compact. Preferably, these operating device's consist of levers disposed parallel to the length of the cylinders and pivotally mounted on the cylinders, their upper ends actuating the valves and their lower ends coacting with the cams on the camv shafts. These levers lie close to the cylinders and the performance of their functions may involve rocking through a relatively small angle so that they add a relatively small amount to the total width of the engine. Two of these levers may operate the inlet and exhaust valves located upon the sides of the cylinder and the third may be arranged to actuate the sprayvalve on top of the cylinder through a bellcrank suitably mounted to coact at one end with the actuating lever and at the other end with the valve. In addition to conducing toward compactness, the three actuating levers employed for operating the valves may be duplicate parts and therefore interchangeable one withanother.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the heads of the cylinders are formed integral with the bodies thereof, but if desired, separable cylinder heads may be employed and in that case the valves are preferably mounted upon the detachable heads so as to be removable therewith. In such a construction, the levers for operating the valves would be mounted upon the cylinders in position to actuate the valves mounted in the cylinder heads, but that would not obstruct removal of the cylinder heads and the valves carried thereby.

These and other features of the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanyin drawings which show the preferred em odiment of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the engine;

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section through one of the cylinders;

Fig. 4: is a View similar to Fig. 1 showing the opposite side of the engine; and

Fig. 5 is a view partially broken away showing a modification in which each of the cylinders is built up of a main body and a separate head.

Referring to the drawings, 8 indicates the usual engine head and crank case having mounted thereon the usual cylinders 9, the number of which may be varied as desired. Each ofthese cylinders is provided with. an inlet 10, an inlet valve 17 and an exhaust valve 28, the two valves 17 and 28 being mounted in openings in opposite sides of the cylinder, preferably in axial alinement. The exhaust valves are all served by an exhaust header 11. At the top of each cylinder is a fuel-spray valve 12. It will be noted, particularly from Fig. 3, that each set of the three valves is arranged in the upper end portion of the corresponding cylinder.

Mounted in suitable bearings on the top of the crank case 8 is an inlet-cam shaft 14 on which are fixedly mounted inlet-valve cams 15. These cams 15 are arranged to rock levers 16 which are pivotally mounted upon their respective cylinders and arranged to be rocked by the cams 15 so as to actuate the inlet valves 17. Also mounted on the cam shaft 14 are a plurality of sleeves 18, each of which carries a cam 19 adapted to rock a lever 21, similar to the lever 16 and also pivotally mounted on the cylinder. Each lever 21 is arranged, as shown in Fig. 2, to rock a bell-crank lever 22, pivotally mounted upon a standard rising from .the end of the cylinder, and this bell-crank lever is adapted to operate the spray valve 12.

Certain of the sleeves 18, as for instance, the two at the left of Fig. 1, are movable axially upon the shaft 14 but are splined upon the shaft so as to rotate therewith. Each of these movable sleeves carries a second cam 20 adapted to operate a push-rod 23, which is connected to and adapted to operate a compressed air-inlet valve 24:. T he sleeves 18 may be moved axially upon shaft 14 to positions in which either one or the other of the cams l9 and20 is efi'ective upon Leas es the coacting valve-operating member. For this purpose, a handle 29 is provided connected by a link 81 to a shaft 30 and yokes 31 to the movable sleeves 18.

A second cam shaft 25 is mounted in suitable bearings on the other side of the engine parallel with shaft 14 and with the line of cylinders. Mounted on this shaft 25 are a plurality of cams 26 for rocking the levers 27 to cause proper functioning of the exhaust valves 28. The levers 16, 21 and 27 are all exact duplicates so that they are interchangeable, and these levers, together with the bell-cranks 22, are so designed as in the fullest degree to facilitate the provision of a very compact power plant. These levers 16, 21 and 27 are disposed parallel to the length of the cylinders, they lie close to the sides of the cylinders and their rocking movement extends through a relatively small angle. Therefore, they do not add materially to the width of the engine. It will be observed, especially from Fig. 3, that the collection of all valves of each cylinder adjacent to the top of that cylinder, the arrangement of the cam shafts as above described, the presence of the duplicate levers 16, 21 and 27, and the design of the bell-crank levers 22, While facilitating the removal of any or all cylinders without the necessity of subsequent readjustment of cams, levers or valves, at the same time make an engine of great compactness and one substantially rectangular in end elevation and transverse section, with the rectangle thus defined one whose base is of considerable less dimension than its height. This result is extremely desirable in connection with the internal combustion engine power-plant of a submarine vessel, since in such a vessel, the available space is so re stricted. Furthermore, it will be noted that the valves of each cylinder and all of the actuating mechanism connecting them with the cams on the cam shafts are mounted directly on that cylinder so that removal of the cylinder from the crank case of the en gine carries the valves and valve mechanism with it; on replacement of the cylinder, the valve mechanisms are restored to their operative condition without requiring readjustment.

Fig. 5 illustrates a modification of the construction shown in the other figures, in which the heads of the cylinders are formed separate from the bodies thereof and in which the valves of each cylinder are mounted upon the detachable cylinder head. The cylinders are indicated at 9 and the removable cylinder heads at 9". heads are mounted the fuel-spray, inlet and exhaust valves. Any one of these heads is readily removable, with all the advantages In these.

above mentioned, and such removal is made doubly convenient by providing, instead of the single exhaust-header 11 of Fig. 1, a plurality of connected and readily separable exhaust-header sections 11. The removal of any'cylinder head carries with it the valves of the corresponding cylinder, the bell-crank lever 22 and the header section 11. The inlet and exhaust valves, together with the bell-crank lever 22, are readily disengaged from the levers 16, 21 and 27 which operate them.

Fig. 2 illustrates the mechanism for driving the cam-shafts 14 and 25, which mechanism is of special utility for use in engines of submarineboats because of the necessity of conserving fore-and-aft room. This mechanism consists of a set of spur-gears arranged as shown in broken lines. The gear 34 is mounted on the engine shaft, the gears 35 and 36 are mounted on the cam shafts l4 and 15 respectively, and all the gears are caused to rotate in unison by means of an idler gear 37. A protective gear case 38 is preferably employed inclosing the respective gears.

We claim:

1. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston therein, an engine shaft to which the piston is connected, an inlet valve for the cylinder, an exhaust valve for the cylinder, a fuel-spray valve for the cylinder, three duplicate levers, one for directly actuating the inlet valve and another for directly actuating the exhaust valve, a lever for directly actuating the fuelspray valve and itself actuated by the third one of said duplicate levers, each of said levers being horizontally pivoted to oscillate in a vertical plane, and means for operating said levers in accordance with the rotation of the engine shaft; substantially as described.

2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a casing, a cylinder mounted thereon, a piston in the cylinder, an engine shaft to which the piston is connected, inlet and exhaust valves on opposite sides of the cylinder, a fuel-spray valve on the top of the cylinder, levers pivotally mounted on opposite sides of the cylinder and adapted to actuate the inlet and exhaust valves, a third lever pivotally mounted upon the cylinder, a bell-crank lever pivotally mounted upon the cylinder and actuated by said third lever to actuate the fuel-spray valve, each of said levers being horizontally pivoted to oscillate in a vertical plane, cam shafts mounted on the casing on opposite sides of the cylinder and driven by the engine shaft, and cams on the cam shafts arranged to rock all three of said levers; substantially as described.

3. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a casing, a cylinder mounted thereon, a piston in the cylinder, an engine shaft connected to the piston, inlet and exhaust valves on opposite sides of the cylinder, a fuel-spray valve on the top of the cylinder, two levers pivotally mounted intermediate their ends upon opposite sides of the cylinder and disposed substantially parallel to the axis of the cylinder, one of said levers actuating the inlet valve and the other actuating the exhaust valve, a third lever pivoted intermediate its ends upon the cylinder and disposed substantially parallel to the axis of the cylinder, a bell-crank lever pivotally mounted upon the cylinder and coacting at one endwith said third lever and at the other end with the spray valve, each of said levers being horizontally pivoted to oscillate in a vertical plane, two cam shafts mounted on the casing on opposite sides of the cylinder and driven by the engine shaft, and cams on the cam shaft adapted to rock all three of said levers to actuate the three valves; substantially as described.

4. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a casing, a cylinder mounted thereon, a piston in the cylinder, an engineshaft connected to the piston, inlet and exhaust valves on opposite sides of the cylinder, two substantially straight levers pivotally mounted intermediate their ends upon opposite sides of the cylinder and disposed substantially parallel to the axis of the cylinder, one of said levers directly actuating the exhaust valve and the other directly actuating the inlet valve, a third substantially straight lever similarly disposed and similarly pivoted on the cylinder, a fuelspray valve on the top of the cylinder substantially concentric with the cylinder, a device located on one side of the spray-valve substantially within the lateral limits of the engine and actuated by said third levr-r to actuate the fuel-spray valve, an exhaust header for serving the exhaust valve and located on the other side of the spray-valve and substantially within the lateral limits of the engine, two cam shafts mounted on the casing on opposite sides of the cylinder and driven by the engine-shaft, and cams on the cam shafts arranged to rock said levers upon their pivots; substantially as described.

5. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a cylinder, a piston inthe cylinder, an engine shaft connected to the piston, inlet, exhaust and fuel-spray valves on the cylinder, two substantially straight levers pivotally mounted intermediate their ends at opposite sides of and closely adjacent to the cylinder, a third substantially straight lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends adjacent to one of the two hell-crank leverslast-inentioned, these three levers heing disposed substantially parallel to the axis of the cylinder and tWo of such levers directly actuating two of the valves, and a pivoted closely adjacent to the top of the cylinder and having a dependent arm the lower end of which coacts with the upper end of the third substantially straight lever vvherehy this lever directly operates the hell-crank to directly operate the third 10 valve;

lln testimony tunes,

GRl'EG-ORY C. DAVlSON @HN W. ANDERSUN, 

